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New US carbon standards for power plants: Mark Kenber CEO of The Climate Group comments

New US carbon standards for power plants: Mark Kenber CEO of The Climate Group comments

Date

02 June 2014

NEW YORK: Today, the Obama Administration set new regulations limiting carbon emissions from US power plants, which is central to Obama’s Climate Action Plan. Power plants currently account for about 40% of America's total carbon emissions.

Following on from the announcement by Environmental Protection Agency today, Mark Kenber, CEO of The Climate Group comments:

“Today’s announcement from America shows leadership and commitment to securing a global climate agreement. Climate change is now back on the news agenda, and will be increasingly so in the run up to the Ban Ki-moon summit in September and COP 20 later in the year.

“As Gina McCarthy said in the announcement, we can turn risks of climate change into business opportunity. The performance of clean energy and technology stocks demonstrates again and again that there is a strong economic case for climate action. The average return on investment from clean energy technology is over 30% within a 3-year period. A predecessor once said, it’s the economy, stupid. This is Obama stating, it’s the low carbon economy, stupid.

“The Climate Group has been working with American leaders in government, business and society to depolarize the climate issue, bring them together around the evidence for action, and demonstrate the undeniable business case for an American Clean Revolution that boosts growth and creates jobs.

“This announcement could be the key to breaking the climate deadlock. By the Obama Administration placing climate change front and center today it could be the butterfly moment that sparks a chain of events that ripples across the globe and builds momentum for the international climate negotiations, the US–China bilateral relationship on climate talks which could deliver a global agreement. In the US and elsewhere, the clean economy sector has been growing steadily at a time when much of the global economy has been sluggish. Let this be the announcement that will make the world wake up to the potential of the low carbon economy.”